High winds bring down several power lines in northwest Dallas and fuels a house fire in Irving

Crews continued to clean up the damage wrought by high winds on Merrell Road near Marsh Lane early Tuesday morning.

As predicted, high winds heralded the arrival of a cold front just after midnight, and with those near-50-mile-per-hour gusts came snapped trees and downed power lines that knocked out the lights to several northwest Dallas neighborhoods along Marsh Lane from Walnut Hill to Royal. Irving firefighters have also spent the last several hours trying to put out a fire that, with the whipping wind’s help, devoured a house on Oakwood Drive near N. Walton Walker.

At this hour, westbound Merrell Road at Marsh Lane remains closed while Oncor crews replace downed and damaged utility poles taken out by a single tree. Around 1:45 a.m., which is when our northwest Dallas neighborhood suddenly went dark, a large tree snapped and fell onto some power lines, which couldn’t take the strain. Two utility poles snapped, and about 10 cross arms broke. And that was that: Lights out till around 3:50 a.m. for most, though some closer to the affected area remain in the dark this morning.

Oncor’s outage website shows those around the area without power this morning. It looks much better now than it did an hour ago.

Right as northwest Dallas was getting its power back, firefighters in Irving were being dispatched to a one-story brick home in the 700 block of Oakwood Road, which was in the process of being consumed by a blaze that filled the entire neighborhood with smoke. Firefighters were concerned the high winds would spread the fire to neighboring residences.

But they now have it under control: The home’s a total loss, but reports indicate the occupants, who’ve lived there for 20 years, were not home — because they work at night. No injuries have been reported.

DALLAS- here’s a better picture of that tree that fell onto a power line near Marsh and Merrell. What a mess! twitter.com/wyattgoolsby/s…

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